Grand Theft Auto proves timeless even today, with its fifth entry still going strong a decade later and its sixth game looming over the horizon. Fellow beloved Rockstar game Red Dead Redemption 2 is also always pushing its way back into the limelight with its regular updates and its expansive online play. Dan Houser, Rockstar co-founder and writer on both iconic series, recently departed the company to found a mysterious transmedia company dubbed Absurd Ventures.
Fellow Rockstar veterans are now following suit and also populating the former Grand Theft Auto writer’s new venture. Developer Lazlow Jones and writer Michael Unsworth have taken on senior positions at Houser’s studio, with the former joining as one of Absurd Venture’s founders and the latter more recently as its head of story and creative management.
Houser helped found Rockstar in 1998 and left in 2020 after over two decades with the company. He went on to debut Absurd Ventures a few years after his departure from the RPG game studio, with Jones joining as one of the new firm’s founding members. At Rockstar, Jones acted as a director, producer, and writer, best known for his work on GTA.
As BeGeek reports, Unsworth joined the Absurd Ventures team more recently, leaving his role at Rockstar as Red Dead Redemption writer for the new studio in October. Unsworth was the vice president of writing at Rockstar before departing, working on every major release while there from L.A. Noire to Grand Theft Auto 4 and 5.
Houser says that the new studio is here “to create new universes and to tell great stories.” According to Absurd Venture’s careers page, the studio is currently hiring for multiple transmedia roles, including staff for an animated series, audio fiction, and game development. It isn’t yet clear what the company is specifically working on.
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